This application claims the priority of German Patent Document 102 18 926.9, filed Apr. 27, 2002, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a floor assembly for a driver's cab of a commercial vehicle having a tunnel section extending in a direction of travel of the vehicle, a left floor section which extends on the left, with regard to a direction of travel, next to the tunnel section and is fastened laterally to the tunnel section, and a right floor section which extends on the right, with regard to the direction of travel, next to the tunnel section and is fastened laterally to the tunnel section, the tunnel section and the floor sections extending in the direction of travel from a common, rear floor assembly end as far as a common, front floor assembly end.
A floor assembly of this type is known from German Patent Document DE 198 02 092 A1 and comprises a tunnel section extending in the direction of travel of the vehicle, a left floor section which extends on the left, with regard to the direction of travel, next to the tunnel section and is fastened laterally to the tunnel section, and a right floor section which extends on the right, with regard to the direction of travel, next to the tunnel section and is fastened laterally to the tunnel section. The tunnel section and the two floor sections extend in the direction of travel from a common rear floor assembly end as far as a common front floor assembly end.
Different types of commercial vehicle require different embodiments for the floor assembly. For example, the floor assembly of a left-hand-drive vehicle can differ from the floor assembly of a right-hand-drive vehicle by the space needed for the pedals. The tunnel section has to protrude to a greater or lesser extent into the driver's cab depending on the motorization. Moreover, it may be required that the floor assembly has to line a heat exchanger of a cooling circuit of an internal combustion engine of the vehicle, which heat exchanger is arranged in the front region of the vehicle, with different configurations also being possible in the case of different variants of engine. Moreover, the driver's cab can differ in width in different types of vehicle, with the result that the floor assembly also has to be supplied with different widths. The outlay on the supply of a multiplicity of variants for the floor assembly is associated with high costs.
The present invention has an aspect concerned with the problem of specifying, for a floor assembly, an improved embodiment which, in particular, makes it easier to supply the correct floor assembly in each case for different types of vehicle.
This aspect may be solved according to certain preferred embodiments of the invention in that the tunnel section is of multipart construction and, with regard to the direction of travel, has a front tunnel part and a rear tunnel part connected thereto, the rear tunnel part beginning at the rear floor assembly end and ending at the front tunnel part which ends at the front floor assembly end, the front tunnel part and rear tunnel part being fastened in each case directly or indirectly to the floor sections. In addition, this aspect may be solved by a modular construction system for constructing a floor assembly as above, in that at least two different rear tunnel parts which differ from each other in respect to vertical height and have identical connecting sections for fastening to the floor sections or to rear attachment parts are provided. Advantageous embodiments are contained in the dependent claims and herein below.
Certain preferred embodiments of the present invention are based on a concept of designing the tunnel section running between the two floor sections in a number of parts in such a manner that this tunnel section has at least one front tunnel part, with regard to the direction of travel, and a rear tunnel part connected thereto. This makes it possible to design this tunnel section with the aid of correspondingly designed tunnel parts as a function of the type of vehicle desired in each case. In addition, this manner of construction makes it possible to adapt individual regions of the tunnel section to the particular type of vehicle. This is of particular advantage, since different variants of engine, in particular, and variants of interior, above all, have an effect on the design of the tunnel section.
This makes it possible, by selecting individual parts of the tunnel section, to supply a number of variants for the tunnel section and hence for the floor assembly in a particularly simple manner. Since only individual parts have to be supplied in order to prepare different variants, the overall result is a reduced outlay for realizing different types of vehicle.
In a preferred embodiment, the front tunnel part can be fastened on at least one side to the respective floor section via a front attachment part. The same also applies for the rear tunnel part. With the aid of these attachment parts, the variability of the floor can additionally be increased, since the selection of different attachment parts and also the omission of attachment parts increase the freedom of design for the floor assembly.
In another embodiment, the rear tunnel part can extend above an internal combustion engine which, in the installed state of the floor assembly, is arranged below the driver's cab. In this embodiment, the floor assembly can be adapted in a particularly simple manner to variants of engine in which the internal combustion engine has different vertical measurements. In order to supply different types of floor assembly, it then suffices in each case to select the rear tunnel part so as to correspond while the front tunnel part can be used unchanged.
An embodiment is particularly expedient in which the rear tunnel part is designed as a removable tunnel cover. In the installed state, the internal combustion engine, which is arranged below the floor assembly, is then particularly readily accessible, which can be of advantage for certain maintenance measures. Moreover, the removable tunnel part simplifies the adaptation of the floor assembly to different variants of interior, since the tunnel part can be correspondingly adapted to the particular interior parts.
Further important features and advantages of the invention emerge from the subclaims, from the drawings and from the associated description of the figures with reference to the drawings.
It goes without saying that the features mentioned above and those which are yet to be explained below can be used not only in the respectively stated combination, but also in different combinations or on their own without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and will be explained in greater detail in the following description, in which identical reference numbers refer to identical or functionally identical or similar components.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.